


Coming Clean

by CaptainJZH



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen, Greg is supportive, Post-Greg the Babysitter, Pre-Canon, Pre-Three Gems And A Baby, Rose hates herself
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-06-24 12:30:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15630732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainJZH/pseuds/CaptainJZH
Summary: In one universe, Rose wanted to tell Greg everything, but Greg told her she didn’t have to tell him anything. That was supposed to be reassuring to Rose, but what Rose needed most someone to talk to, and so she took her secrets to her grave, causing the Crystal Gems all sorts of grief and despair.This is a look into the universe where Rose did get to tell Greg everything, and the results of that action.





	Coming Clean

They sat by the beach, like they did on many nights, watching the starry horizon against the sound of crashing waves.

 

“Greg…” Rose started to say, trailing off.

 

“Yeah?” the 25-year-old musician asked in response.

 

“I, um… I feel like I haven’t been honest with you.”

 

“How so? I don’t think you’ve lied to me about anything,” Greg said as he sat up against the rear bumper of his van, “...Have you?”

 

Rose shook her head.

 

“No, no, not outright lies but… You deserve to know everything. I...need to tell you everything.”

 

“Rose,” Greg began after a thoughtful pause, “You don’t  _ need _ to tell me anything. All that matters to me is...well, is what you are now. And I love you just the way you are.”

 

“I guess… I guess that… Er, I suppose you’re right. Thank you,” Rose stammered out as she accepted Greg’s answer.

 

For a moment, Greg took Rose’s words at face-value, believing that she was fine. But on whim, Greg turned his head away from the stars and noticed Rose’s posture. She was slumped over, hugging her forearms, with a blank frown on her face.

 

“Rose?” he asked, growing concerned.

 

Rose suddenly snapped back to her normal cheery demeanor, clutching the van’s bumper with one hand and the sand below her with the other.

 

“Yes?!” she asked with an all-too-happy smile.

 

“Are you alright?”

 

“Sure! Everything’s perfect! I’m with the love of my life watching the stars on a beautiful night and there’s absolutely nothing wrong in my life at all!”

 

“Rose, is something wrong?”

 

“No,  _ why do you ask? _ ” 

 

“Because you’re denting my bumper.”

 

Rose lifted her hand and saw the hand print she had indented into the metal.

 

“Oh! Uh, sorry…”

 

“Is there anything you need to talk about…?”

 

“Nope!  _ I don’t need to tell anyone anything! _ ”

 

Rose lifted her other hand out of the sand, causing glass shards to fall from her unclenched fist. In utter shock, she stood up and tried to leave.

 

“Oh, what’s that?” she called out, “Oh I do believe Pearl is calling me.  _ Coming Pearl! _ ”

 

“Wait, Rose!” Greg shouted after her as she ran down the beach.

 

He frantically searched for his keys and, upon finding them, got into the van and sped off in pursuit.

 

Making another hole in the fence around the Temple, Greg caught up with Rose in the van and drove it right in front of her, blocking her path.

 

“First of all,” he said as he stepped out, “Rose, you’re a terrible liar.”

 

_ “That’s debatable…”  _ Rose muttered.

 

“And second… I’m here if you want to talk. About  _ anything _ .”

 

A moment went by where Rose just looked at Greg, tired bags under her eyes, unsure of what to do. A moment later, she lunged forward and wrapped the human in a hug. A hug that was a little  _ too _ tight for Greg.

 

“Whoa, hey!” Greg blurted out, “I’m not made of light, ya know.”

 

“Heh, sorry,” Rose said as she released him, “But...you did say I could talk to you about  _ anything _ ?

 

“For the love of God,  _ yes _ , Rose,” Greg laughed, putting his hand to her face, “I love you. Nothing you did in the past can change that.”

 

Rose looked up at the Temple, halfway visible from where they were on the cliffside. Greg took her hand and held it.

 

“Alright,” she said, “I’m ready.”

 

\---

 

They took the van to another spot, on a cliff overlooking Beach City a little ways away from Rose’s moss garden. The couple sat along the edge, waiting for one of them to speak.

 

“You...you probably won’t understand. You know that, right?” Rose said, looking out at the stars.

 

“You’ll probably have to explain a lot to me, but I’ll listen.”

 

“Okay…” Rose said, exhaling a breath she didn’t know she was holding, “The truth is...I’m Pink Diamond.”

 

Greg stared blankly at her for a few seconds before finally speaking.

 

“I think this is one of the things you’ll need to explain to me.”

 

Rose let out a slightly-bitter chuckle.

 

“ _ Okay _ , so all Gems are ruled by a group of higher Gems called the Diamonds, right?”

 

“Uh-huh…”

 

“And they’re terrible, awful people who oppress anyone they see and destroy all  _ kinds _ of life all over the universe, ruining everything they touch,  _ right? _ ”

 

“I’ll have to take your word for it…”

 

Rose stood up and started pacing along the cliffside.

 

“Well one day  _ Pink Diamond _ is born into the universe and it  _ sucks _ because everyone either blindly loves her or secretly hates her!”

 

“I thought you said-”

 

“And the other Diamonds treat her like she’s stupid,  _ which she probably is but she doesn’t know that _ so you know what she does?”

 

Greg opened his mouth to answer but was cut off.

 

“She whines to them about how much she wants ‘a colony of her own’ over and  _ over _ for thousands of years! And they don’t do that because they can  _ clearly  _ see how she’s a walking disaster area and so they give her a Pearl! All the other elite Gems have Pearls! That should be easy, shouldn’t it?”

 

“Uh…”

 

“Well she screws that up real good because she tells this Pink Pearl not to follow orders anymore which  _ royally  _ messes with her head, so she gets carted off to White fracking Diamond to be memory wiped or something while Pink gets a second Pearl who she makes the mistake of  _ falling in love with! _

 

“And when they finally give her that planet she oh-so-really-wanted, she falls in love with that, too! And suddenly she doesn’t want a colony anymore, but no one would listen to wittle ol’ Pink, so she gets the  _ bright idea _ , ‘Hey why don’t I just become Rose Quartz, virtuous rebel leader?!’”

 

Greg just kept nodding as he took it all in.

 

“And she thinks ‘oh this will be easy’ but then  _ whoopsie _ ! She has thousands of followers and Gems counting on and believing in her to deliver the goods! But she has no goods at all because she’s a complete and utter liar! And yet she still  _ stupidly  _ believes she can actually plan for shale, even though the only reason we were winning at all was because I was setting up my other armies up for defeat!  _ Thousands _ of Gems defeated! All because of me! Maybe when Blue and Yellow called Rose Quartz a war criminal they actually had a point!

 

“Maybe when I told the Crystal Gems that Pink Diamond was evil  _ I _ had a point! Maybe if I never existed none of this would have happened! No corrupted gems, no huge war, no Earth colonization, no kidnapped humans trapped in a Zoo that  _ for some reason  _ I didn’t think to free, no throwing Bismuth in a bubble indefinitely because she wanted to kill me but not me but really me, no gag order on Pearl…”

 

“Rose?”

 

“Maybe White was right!”

 

“Rose!”

 

“ _ Maybe I am just one big disappointing mistake!” _

 

“ROSE!”

 

Greg grabbed Rose’s face and looked her straight in the eyes.

 

“You’re  _ not  _ evil. Or a mistake.”

 

“But I’ve terrible things! I lied to my friends, I- I caused the shattering and corruption of countless Gems, I caused everyone I knew so much  _ grief _ and  _ pain _ all because I was so  _ stupid _ and even though I didn’t want to hurt anyone… I hurt  _ everyone _ ...”

 

Rose buried her face in Greg’s shoulder, crying.

 

“Well,” Greg said, holding the pink woman closer, “You haven’t hurt me.”

 

“I caused you to give up your music for someone you’d never even met,” she said, sniffling.

 

“Oh, that? That was a good thing. Marty was a jerk, for one, and I probably wouldn’t have made it in Empire City anyway.”

 

Rose chuckled for a moment, but then looked back at the ground.

 

“Look,” Greg said, taking her chin in his hand, “I might not know much about Gem stuff, but I do know one thing.”

 

“And what’s that,  _ Mr. Universe _ ?” Rose asked him, almost sarcastically.

 

“It’s never too late to turn yourself around.”

 

\---

 

“Garnet, Amethyst?” Rose asked, having found the two Gems standing outside the Temple.

 

“Yeah?” Amethyst asked.

 

She looked at Greg, who was standing next to her for support. He nodded.

 

“I have something I need to tell you…”

 

Greg gripped her hand tight, easing her nerves.

 

“The truth is…”

 

Just like how humans never forgot how to ride a bicycle, Rose never forgot how to shapeshift into her old form. Her body became a bright light, her physical form growing into the tall pink figure that used to haunt the Crystal Gems’ nightmares. 

 

“I’m Pink Diamond.”

**Author's Note:**

> Consider this a sort-of spiritual successor to Friends Are There When You Need Them, as Rose's issues I imagine were very similar to Steven's.


End file.
